


Half a Heart

by allmylovesatonce



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-22 22:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7455454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allmylovesatonce/pseuds/allmylovesatonce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Picks up at different times after the season four finale. Danny is going through with the wedding. But will Mindy try to stop him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Forget All We Said That Night

Mindy had walked toward her fair share of miserable situations. But walking her son into her ex-fiancé’s rehearsal dinner almost certainly topped them all. They were running late which meant that Danny would most certainly be pissed. It also meant that all of Danny’s family, including his extremely judgmental mother, would already be there. The same family that was almost _her_ family. She shook her head. It was not the time to be having those kinds of thoughts.

She ran into the small banquet hall, wheeling Leo in along with her. She scanned the room for Danny. She was really hoping that she could do a quick hand off and spend as little time there as possible. She spotted Danny as he spotted her. He moved quickly towards her.

“You’re late,” he said.

“I know, I know, I know,” she replied quickly. “We had some issues and then there was a ton of traffic. But he’s here and you’re good to go.” She handed over Leo’s bag and bent down to address her son. “I’ll see you later, Sweetie.” She leaned in to kiss his cheek. When she stood up, Sarah was standing there smiling next to Danny. Mindy jumped a little.

“Mindy! I’m so glad you could make it,” Sarah cheered. Mindy could never tell if Sarah was being real or not. If Mindy and Danny had gone through with their wedding, she wouldn’t have invited Christina to attend.

“Don’t worry, I’m not staying. Just dropping off the son of the groom,” Mindy assured.

“No, please stay!” Sarah replied, reaching out to grab Mindy’s arm. Mindy started to shake her head. “Come on, what about all that “one big family” stuff you talked with us about?” Mindy mentally kicked herself for trying to be a mature adult. She looked at Danny. He cringed slightly but his face wore a “It’s your call” type of expression. Sarah seemed to sense Mindy’s hesitance. She tilted her head and looked at Mindy pointedly. “For Leo?” she asked.

Mindy sighed and then nodded. How the hell could she say no to that? As she followed Sarah to a place to sit, she thought back on the day she preached a “one big family” type situation to Danny and Sarah. Though arguably, when she’d done that, she hadn’t ever expected this to be the outcome.

~~

_Mindy walked with purpose to Danny’s door. She lifted her hand to knock but pulled back at the last second. She needed to do this, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to face him yet. The hurt that she’d been feeling over the last week was still coursing through her. She looked down at Leo and her decision was made. She reached up and knocked on the door._

_Danny seemed distracted as he opened the door. When he noticed it was Mindy, shock covered his face. He looked quickly behind him before grabbing the handle of the door and shutting the door, pushing Mindy further into the hall. “Hey,” he greeted in hushed tones. “What are you doing here?”_

_Mindy closed her eyes, reigning in her anger and her pain. She was there for a reason and it wasn’t to let him see her be upset. She stood up a bit straighter and looked him in the eye._

_“I’m here to talk to you. After…what happened…” she trailed off. It was hard to mention what happened between them without flashing back to the love and the passion she felt without the immediate contrast of anger. She nodded to herself quickly, urging herself forward._

_“Look, you already know how I felt after finding your invitation after everything that happened.” Danny broke eye contact and looked at his feet, nodding slightly. “So I don’t think you’d be too surprised to know that I was finally ready to cut you from my life. I was ready to never speak to you again. Drop offs with Leo were going to be silent, as short as possible.” Danny looked back at her, pain clearly written across his face. She almost started to feel for him until she remembered that he did this to himself. “I mean it’s not like I_ need _to hear about your life. To know how_ she’s _doing. And you don’t really need to know about mine.”_

_“Mindy –” Danny interrupted._

_Mindy held up her hand. “You know it’s been hard not to think about what happened. About how for a few hours, I was honestly happy. I keep thinking about everything that happened in that elevator. And about everything we talked about. And as hard as that is, I can’t help but remember how many times you had an opening to tell me you were engaged. But you didn’t. I even asked you if you ever got serious with anyone and you didn’t even say it.” Mindy could hear herself getting louder. She didn’t care._

_“Shhh,” Danny urged, looking back nervously at the door._

_Mindy’s eyes followed his. “What? She’s here?”_

_Danny motioned for her to keep the volume down. “Yes, she’s here.” He paused, looking down. He sighed and said, “And I didn’t tell her.”_

_Mindy gasped. “You haven’t told her? What the hell, Danny? Are you kidding me?”_

_“Look, I was going to, but then after the way you reacted, I just didn’t,” Danny explained poorly._

_Mindy almost laughed. “Wow. I’m really glad I’m not the only person you’re like this with,” she replied coldly._

_Danny was silent. Mindy realized they’d gone way off track of what she’d really wanted to say. But she was so mad at Danny that she almost didn’t care._

_He finally looked back up at her. “So what, you’re here to say goodbye? To tell me that you never want to speak to me again?”_

_“Actually I’m not.” He looked confused. “The more I thought about what happened in the elevator, the more I started to think about why we were even_ in _the elevator.” She looked down at her son. “It was because of Leo. Look, Danny, what we were doing before wasn’t working. I know we thought we were managing the whole co-parenting thing, but apparently we weren’t doing as good a job as we thought. It’s affecting him and we can’t let that happen. I don’t care what there is between us.”_

_Danny nodded in agreement. “So what do you suggest?”_

_“That we figure out a plan to do better. You, me, and…her,” she said, waving her hand at the door._

_Danny looked back at the door. “Do you think that will work?”_

_Mindy shrugged. “We have no choice. We have to try. For Leo.”_

_Danny looked down at his son as he leaned back against the door. There was a heavy silence between them. Suddenly the door opened and Danny stumbled inward. Mindy looked at his fiancée and she looked familiar._

_“Oh, uh, Mindy, I didn’t realize you were here,” the woman said in a strange tone. It almost sounded unsure. Mindy stared at her trying to remember where she recognized this woman from. As the woman wrapped her arm around Danny, Mindy felt her stomach turn. It was one thing to know the man she loved was getting married, it was another to see them together, draped across each other._

_Mindy cleared her throat. “Yeah, I was just trying to iron out some things with Danny.” The woman narrowed her eyes. “Regarding Leo,” Mindy clarified. She saw a look of concern transform into a smile. She swore she’d seen that before. Suddenly it hit her. “You came to my office,” Mindy stated._

_Danny looked between the two of them, clearly confused. Sarah looked at Mindy and nodded slowly._

_“You asked about my ex…” Mindy started. She looked between them. “What were you trying to see if I was over him? If I was going to try to get him back? What – I mean what was the point of finding me and asking me that?” She realized midway through her questions that she had thought about getting Danny back. But those feelings had quickly disappeared when she found out about Sarah._

_Sarah started stammering. “I, uh, I – I just…” Mindy shook her head at Sarah, trying to figure out where she was going. “I mean you’re Leo’s mom. You’re important. I just…wanted to meet you…I suppose…” she ended weakly. Danny closed his eyes and grimaced._

_Mindy felt the urge to leave. “I should go,” she said, turning Leo’s stroller towards the door._

_“No, please, stay,” Sarah begged. Mindy looked back at her, confused. “I’m sorry I was weird. I’d like to make it up to you. You could have dinner with us.”_

_“But if you have to go, we totally understand,” Danny added quickly._

_“No really, stay,” Sarah urged again._

_Mindy stared at her. “So you want me to have dinner with my ex-fiancé and his new fiancée? I don’t know.”_

_“Please,” Sarah continued, “You said you had things to discuss about Leo. I’d love to hear it.” Mindy sighed. “And while we’re on the subject,” Sarah added, stepping closer to Mindy, “I want you to know that I know you’re Leo’s mom. And I’m never going to try to replace you.” She reached out and grabbed Mindy’s arms. “I promise.”_

_Mindy felt so weird about everything that was happening. She glanced over at Danny who looked equally uncomfortable. She didn’t know if it was the way to get Sarah to back off or if making Danny feel majorly uncomfortable seemed to make her own discomfort worth it, but Mindy agreed to dinner. She tried to tell herself that the real reason she agreed to dinner was to come up with the best plan for Leo._

_~~_

Mindy sat in a corner, trying to be as far away from everyone as possible. She saw Danny from afar, clearly faking a smile as he talked to someone with Sarah at his side. Or maybe she just hoped he was faking a smile. Watching the man she loved at his own rehearsal dinner was not the easiest thing ever. Labor on a subway had been a breeze compared to the kind of pain she was feeling now. She heard the chair beside her move and she looked over to see Richie sitting down next to her.

“Richie, what are you doing? Shouldn’t the best man be talking to more important people than the ex-fiancée?”

Richie smirked, handing her a drink, “Don’t worry, I came prepared.” She smiled and raised it in appreciation. They both took a drink. “So no offense, Mindy, but what the hell are you doing here?”

Mindy laughed painfully, “I’m asking myself the same question. All I was supposed to do was drop Leo off and be on my way. Suddenly Sarah was ushering me to a seat and demanding I stay. I don’t really get it. Plus she’s trying to convince me to come to the wedding even though I RSVP’d no.”

“Yeah, she’s weird,” Richie replied.

“Come on, you don’t have to say that for my benefit,” Mindy answered.

“I’m not.” Mindy sighed and took another drink. Richie spoke again. “Mindy, do you remember your engagement party?”

Mindy groaned. “Yes. God that was a disaster.”

Richie nodded. “Yeah, it was. But let me ask you this, why was Danny happier at that _disaster_ of an engagement party than he is here?” he asked, gesturing toward his brother. Mindy looked over at Danny. Maybe he really had been faking a smile.

“You really think he’s unhappy?”

“I’ve seen genuinely happy Danny. I’ve also seen Danny forcing it. Believe me, I know which one this is,” Richie replied.

Mindy looked at him. “What are you doing? Why are you telling me this?”

“Tell me, Mindy, are you seeing anyone right now?” Mindy glared at him. “ _That’s_ why I’m telling you. You are clearly unhappy. You’re sitting here visibly pining for Danny –”

“I am not visibly pining!” Mindy interrupted.

“—and Danny is clearly miserable over there,” Richie continued, “So maybe rather than stay like this with both of you miserable, maybe you should do something about it.”

Mindy shook her head. “Danny’s happy with her. I’m not going to jeopardize that.”

“He’s not happy with her. He’s settling for her. But maybe if you do something then –”

“Richie, stop,” Mindy interrupted again, putting up her hand. She shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. “It’s too late. He’s getting married. Tomorrow.”

Richie looked at her pityingly, “Oh Mindy, come on. It’s never too late.” He looked at her pointedly before getting up and walking away. Mindy watched him walk away until her gaze shifted to Danny.

She knew his happy expressions and Richie was right, that wasn’t it. But would he really be any happier with her? She shook her head. Richie was wrong. It _was_ too late. She stood up and gathered her things, sneaking past everyone to leave.

She was out in the hall, about to turn the corner when she heard him. “Are you leaving?” Danny asked.

She turned around to look at him. “Yeah.”

“You don’t have to…” Danny offered.

“Yes, I do, Danny. I can’t do this,” she replied.

“Do what?”

“Danny, I can’t watch you marry someone else. I’m sorry. I don’t care how much I talk about being one big family for Leo’s sake. For my own sake, I can’t do this. I can’t watch you vow to spend the rest of your life with someone else when not too long ago, that was going to be me.” Mindy stopped, feeling tears come to her eyes. Danny’s face fell. She knew she shouldn’t have said so much.

“Min…” Danny started.

Mindy shook her head quickly. She cleared her throat and threw back her shoulders. “Congratulations, Danny. I’m really happy you’re happy,” she said, forcing a smile. She turned her back on the man she loved and walked away, finally letting a few tears fall.


	2. Walking 'round With Just One Shoe

Mindy had finally sunk into her couch when she heard a knock at the door. She really couldn’t imagine who would be stopping by to see her. For just a second her mind went to Danny before she immediately pushed the thought away. She opened the door to see a sight for sore eyes. Peter.

“What are you doing here, Peter?” Mindy asked, happy, but surprised to see her best friend.

“Are you serious? Did you really think I wouldn’t come for this?” Peter asked, walking past her to make himself comfortable in her apartment.

“Come for what?” Mindy inquired, still confused.

Peter turned around and looked at her like she was crazy. “Danny’s wedding. Do you think I’d miss that shit show?”

Mindy could feel her shoulders slumping. She was hoping Peter was there to see her. “Oh. Yeah.”

Peter sat down on the couch and motioned for Mindy to join him. “What’s going on with that? I thought you guys were getting along.”

Mindy sighed. “We are. It’s just hard.”

“Because you still love him?” Peter asked knowingly.

She stared at him. “How could you tell?”

“Well for one, you look pretty miserable right now. And for two, every time you mention seeing him or talking to him, you have this quality to your voice. It was there when you guys were broken up the first time too. It’s like you’re telling this positive story about him but there’s just this sadness to it. I think it might be the kind of thing only a best friend would pick up on.”

Mindy leaned back and laid her head on the back of the couch. “I didn’t realize I was so transparent.”

“I promise you, you’re not,” Peter reassured. “I just have seen you at every stage in your relationship with Danny and I happen to be hella observant.”

She turned her head to look at him. “I don’t think I can do it, Peter. I can’t watch him marry someone else.”

Peter grimaced. “I hate to break it to you, but you’re gonna have to, Mindy.”

“Why? I RSVP’d no.”

“Because I need a date. And I need it to be you,” Peter explained.

“Why couldn’t you have brought your damn wife? Isn’t that the point of falling in love and getting married? So you’ll have a forever date for things?” Mindy exclaimed.

“She’s pretty pregnant and did _not_ want to come all the way back to New York just for a wedding of a guy she barely spent time with.”

Mindy nodded her head. “Having been super pregnant myself, I guess I can’t blame her.” She sighed. “But I can’t go with you. I just can’t do it. It’ll be too painful.”

Peter leaned forward and stared at her intently. “Don’t you see? That’s why you have to go! It’s going to be really painful to see Danny marry another woman. I imagine it would have to be. But maybe that’s what you need. Maybe you need one more blast of unimaginable, ridiculous pain. Maybe that’s what you need to finally get over Danny. To see him get married, feel all that pain and then to finally move on.”

Mindy thought about it. She’d spent a lot of time with Danny and Sarah since she found out about them. She figured by now she would be more prepared for this. But she still wasn’t ready for him to be married to someone else. “I don’t know that it’ll be that easy, Peter. I mean I’ll still see him all the time because we share a child. This isn’t like when Jeremy was the best man at your wedding to his ex-girlfriend. This is the man that I love, the man I saw myself marrying, the man that no matter who we’re married to, I still share a family with. This isn’t cut and dry, Peter.”

“Look, I never said it would be cut and dry. I’m just saying, I think it’s what you need.” He paused and stared at Mindy. “At least think about it?” She closed her eyes, hoping to come up with a convincing reason to say no. But she couldn’t so she groaned and nodded.  Peter jumped up off the couch saying, “Great!”

“But if I start to cry or something stupid like that, we are leaving _immediately_. Okay?” Mindy demanded, pointing at him.

“Deal!” Peter cried.

He walked over to the kitchen in search of food. As per usual, Mindy did not have much. He took a sweeping look at her apartment. “You really did make renovations.”

Mindy followed his gaze. “Wasn’t my idea by any means. But I have grown pretty fond of them, I’ll admit.”

Peter sat back down next to Mindy. “Yeah, about that…whatever happened with Jody?”

Mindy shrugged. “Not much of anything. I was really hurt after I found out Danny had slept with me and lied about being engaged. So I foolishly decided to date Jody since he was willing. I knew he liked me so it was easy to start something. But there wasn’t really much there. I still didn’t trust him much after he lied about having an STD and it just became more and more apparent how much he wasn’t Danny. And Danny was who I wanted even if I couldn’t have him. And so things just kinda fizzled. I figured it wasn’t fair to Jody to string him along.”

“Hmmm,” Peter said thoughtfully. “I guess at least you got a sweet apartment redo out of it all, right?”

Mindy smiled sadly, “Yeah, I guess. That’s pretty cold though.”

~~

Mindy sat on her bed. She’d showered but she wasn’t sure she could talk herself into the rest of her routine. It just was not the day for her. She didn’t know how long she sat there, staring out her bedroom doorway. Memories flooded her mind. Danny coming to find her after Josh and Heather ruined the Christmas party. Danny helping her get ready for their disastrous double date. Danny standing there with tears in his eyes before he broke up with her because he was scared. Danny becoming Diamond Dan one more time to strip for her. They had shared so many memories and so many good times. It wasn’t fair that she didn’t get to be the one that ended up with him.

She kept trying to remind herself why she left him. All the reasons were still incredibly valid reasons. She was right to leave him. But her love for him was blocking reason and rational thought. It was how she felt right before she decided to leave him. She really wished she’d never gotten trapped in that damn elevator with him. Seeing him, being stuck with him, and having sex with him undid months of work she’d done to suppress the Danny part of her brain. Every now and then it would spring up and remind her that she’d had better dates, she’d had a better life than whatever guy she was with at the moment could give her. Even if it wasn’t true, the Danny part of her brain loved to ruin dates.

Finally she had gotten ready except for picking what to wear. What does one wear to their ex-fiancé’s wedding?  .

“Let me see your options,” Peter prodded. Mindy walked out in the first outfit. It was completely black. Peter gave her a scolding look. “You can’t wear all black, Mindy. It’s not a funeral.”

Mindy shook her head and walked back into her closet, muttering to herself.  She came back out again, though Peter found issue with the new outfit as well. “That is way too tight and way too low cut. You aren’t going to a club. Come on, everyone is going to know what you’re doing with that dress. Try again.”

This time Mindy walked out in a teal plaid dress. It was one she’d worn before at a very important moment in her life. Peter studied her appearance. “Well it’s not very dressy for a wedding, but that’s a nice dress.” He saw the victory in Mindy’s eyes. “Wait, what happened in that dress?”

Mindy held up her hands in question. “Whatever do you mean?” she asked, feigning innocence. 

“What big moment is Danny going to tie that dress to?” Peter asked knowingly.

“I don’t know what you mean? That’s ridiculous.” Peter stared at her. “Fine, fine. Whatever. It’s the dress I was wearing when Danny found out I was pregnant with Leo. You happy?”

Peter shook his head and laughed. “Okay, new outfit. One that doesn’t tie to some powerful memory or entice anything.” Mindy started to walk away when a thought struck Peter. “And no white!”

~~

They’d finally gotten to the church. Mindy was about as miserable as she’d ever been in her life. The church felt stifling. The closer she got to their seat, the shorter of breath she became. She knew she wouldn’t be able to handle this. She saw their friends sitting in a pew and holding spots for them. They all got up to greet Peter. When they turned to look at Mindy, she felt her stomach sink. It was the look she’d gotten when they broke up. It was sympathy and judgment. And Mindy couldn’t take it. She went to find the bathroom. She stood there looking at herself in the mirror, telling herself she had to do this. She had to finally move on from Danny. With a final nod, she marched out of the bathroom and right into Danny. She stumbled back and looked up at him. Of course.

He looked stunned. “Mindy,” he said in a hushed voice. “I thought you weren’t coming.”

Mindy nodded, trying to get her words out. She was a bit distracted by Danny in a tux. Danny in a tux on his wedding day. She still couldn’t shake the thought that it should be her. He was staring at her expectantly. “Umm, yeah well Peter needed a date because Lauren couldn’t come. So he convinced me to come with him.”

Danny nodded in understanding. They both stood there awkwardly. Someone appeared behind Danny and said, “It’s time.”

Mindy took that as her cue to bolt. “Well, um, good luck.”

Danny stared at her for a beat too long. “Thanks.” She walked away, still feeling his eyes boring into her.

She sat next to Peter, sweating. Every emotion was hitting her. She felt upset as she saw Danny walk up to the altar. She felt happy when she saw her adorable son in a tuxedo.  But the despair truly set in as Sarah walked up the aisle toward Danny.

It shouldn’t be Sarah. It shouldn’t be Sarah. It shouldn’t be Sarah. Mindy kept thinking it over and over in her mind. She got caught up in her head and lost track of the ceremony. She turned to Peter and whispered, “I can’t do this. I’m sorry.”

“Mindy, you really shouldn’t leave now,” Peter urged.

“I can’t stay,” Mindy insisted. She stood up but Peter grabbed her arm, trying to get her to sit back down. Wrenching her arm from him, she overcorrected and caught her foot in the kneeler. Her foot came out of her high heel and she started to fall. She thought she may have heard the word “object” under her startled screams as she toppled to the floor and into the aisle.

She laid there on the floor for a second, hoping that no one saw it. She looked up quickly and noted that everyone in the church seemed to be looking at her. She wanted to move but she was frozen. Embarrassment was flooding her. Her foot was still tangled under her and her shoe was somewhere in the pew. She was really hoping they’d just ignore her and continue with the wedding as she tried to sort things out and leave. She didn’t know how long she’d been laying on the ground before she felt two hands pulling her up. Morgan was holding out her heel for her. She put it on and turned around to see who’d helped her.

Danny. Of course. “Are you okay?” he asked nervously.

How long had she been down? Had she passed out? Why did he look so freaked?

She nodded quickly. He looked at her questioningly. Under his gaze she knew she wasn’t okay.

She shook her head sadly. She stepped closer to him, wanting to say something only he’d hear. “Don’t do this. Don’t marry her.” He looked stunned And then pained. “This isn’t right. This should have been us, Danny. We were a family. And we could be one again. But not if you marry her. Danny, think about us. And everything that we’ve been through and then tell me that it shouldn’t be us up there vowing to spend the rest of our lives together.” She felt tears rolling down her cheeks. She didn’t even care. It was about time she bared her feelings.

Danny turned back quickly to look at Sarah who looked pissed. He looked back at Mindy. Conflicted was one way to describe his expression. He seemed torn between doing the right thing and what he actually wanted. Well she hoped she was still what he wanted. He opened his mouth but no words came out. It didn’t take her long to realize how this was going to go. She closed her eyes and shook her head quickly. “I can’t do this,” she repeated. She looked up at Danny one last time before she ran from the church.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really appreciate the feedback on the first chapter! I hope you enjoy this one!  
> As always, I'd love to know what you think! 
> 
> You can find me at: http://ohfortheloveofmindy.tumblr.com/

**Author's Note:**

> It's been so long since I wrote something. Thankfully the finale gave me the inspiration to write! I hope I'll be able to update quickly, but I am in school so we'll see.  
> I hope you enjoy. I always love to hear your thoughts!! :)


End file.
